The Secret Side of Harry Potter
by whizzsfe
Summary: Harry is persuaded that he needs to find out more about his parents. Harry decides to start his search at Gringotts … Surely the Goblins have records on his parents. Watch as Harry has his world turned upside-down, who will he be able to trust?
1. Whose footsteps am I following in?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter, otherwise I would not have had such wealth of information to work from and this story would never have been written.

_~~SSHP~~_

Chapter 1

Harry stood staring at the space where Dobby had disappeared. _What in the name of Merlin was he going on about? I know I don't know much about my family but would a House-Elf be so adamant that he should find out as much as he could? _"Well if I wasn't curious before, I certainly am now." he thought out loud.

He began dragging himself in the direction of the boy's bathroom in Gryffindor Tower, all the while thinking about how to find out more as the newly-freed Dobby has pretty much told him to do. _Where do I look first? No doubt Hermione would have mentioned any information that the library held ... she knew that he had no clue about most things in the wizarding world. If the library is unhelpful then perhaps he should start at a place that his parents would have had to have left records...Where would that be? Godric's Hollow?... No, Hagrid said the house was in ruins. Professor Dumbledore?... No, I tried to get information of him last year and he kept avoiding the best questions. Where?_

As he said the password (Refuge) to the Fat Lady he grinned to himself, he had just thought of a place where he knew there MUST be records. There was another, but he knew he'd never get anything from them. He was just going to need to find a way to get there this summer. Now he'd arrived, his planning would have to continue later, as he had to make himself respectable for dinner otherwise he'd be laughed at by the whole school. He couldn't miss dinner, apparently the Basilisk's victims were going to be awake and down for dinner. He wanted to see if Hermione was alright.

~~SSHP~~

The next morning, Harry was up early, he had research to do. _I want to get the library as soon as possible. Interesting... that sounds like something Hermione would say. I don't see myself getting excited about it though._

Harry was shaken from his thoughts by Hermione's voice. "Morning Harry, you're up unusually early."

"Morning 'Mione. There's a few last minute things I want to look at in the library. I'm hoping to grab some things to keep me occupied for my time at the Dursley's. Maybe some ideas for torturing Dudley." Harry replied sleepily.

"HARRY! Don't you dare!" She chided him. "Well we'd better get down to breakfast quickly, otherwise it will be time to get on the train. It's useless to wait for Ronald, he never gets up this early."

"You really should have looked at whatever this is sooner, you know. Well, so long as you are all packed, it shouldn't be problem." she said while dragging him towards the Fat Lady. Almost pulling him over in the process.

~~SSHP~~

They got to the library just as Madam Pince, was opening the doors.

_I hope Hermione doesn't try and help me too much I don't really want her to know what I'm planning. I could really do without one of her lectures on the last day of term. Let's see... over there I expect..._

_Ooh... What's this?_

Harry was intrigued. He'd found someone's journal. By the dust on the cover, he guessed that it had been sat there for while. He looked for the library stamp to work out when the book had been placed there. _Odd...there's no library stamp...Madam Pince would never not stamp a book. That means it's not part of the library. _As he examined the inside of the journal carefully, he was amazed to see a piece of parchment stuck inside the front cover.

_**Dear Finder,**_

_**Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs present their complements to you. In finding this journal in the Hogwarts Library you have the chance to become part of a select group of people. The Marauders. Finding this book was not an accident, you must have been keyed into the secrecy spell, which will have been placed on the shelf, which means that you are a true marauder. This journal is yours to take and read, hopefully we are still around and you will meet us one day.**_

_**Happy Pranking !**_

_**P.S: We suggest reviewing the secrecy charms at the back...they are great for hiding things from the Professors!**_

_**P.P.S: Do your best to get the Headmaster he loves a good prank (assuming it's still Dumbledore!)!**_

Harry flipped to the back and found the section about secrecy charms, he found several that sounded useful. One in particular caught his eye...

_**Maraudus Deceptio (v.b or n.v.b)**_

_**Hides the contents of a parchment or roll of parchment. We created this spell ourselves to hide our pranking notes. If done correctly, it should either blank the parchment in question, or replace it with suitable notes that will fool teachers. Anyone attempting to break the charm without the password should receive prank insults from us and once the caster has a marauder name it should also show some using their personality as well.**_

_**Correct password to show contents: **_**I solemnly swear I am up to no good.  
**_**Correct password to hide contents: **_**Mischief managed.**

Harry grinned. _This is perfect to hide my research. Not sure what the 'n.v.b' is though._

After two hours of finding books on himself, he concluded that _there is no books on my family. You would think there would be considering they are the family of 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'. I'll just have to do the research for my trip and leave it at that for the day._

Several hours later Hermione bustled over to him. "Time to go Harry or we will miss the train." she said.

"OK 'Mione just let me put these books back." Harry replied, quietly stuffing his charmed notes into his bag, muttering 'Mischief managed'.


	2. Arriving at Privet Drive

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter, otherwise I would not have had such a large number of fellow fanfiction authors. Plus this story would never have been written.

_~~SSHP~~_

Chapter 2: Arriving at Privet Drive

As Harry was driven home by a grumbling Uncle Vernon, he grinned privately, as he thought back to the best spell he found in the Marauders Journal...

~FLASHBACK~

Harry. Ron and Hermione settled in an empty compartment at the back of the train. Hermione as usual, pulled out a large book from the top of her trunk, where it left on top for easy access, so far as Harry could tell. Once she had settled back into her seat, Harry glanced over at Ron who was staring bemusedly out the window, before rummaging in his own trunk for his defence text. He settled back down into his seat and flicked through the back pages of the Marauders Journal behind the cover of his textbook. He wasn't sure yet why he was keeping the Journal secret from his friends, but decided that he'd probably tell them when they met up at the Burrow later in the summer.

The back page of the Journal was the spell he noticed earlier when he was in the library. He thought this spell would ideal to hide notes that were passed between him and his friends as well as hiding things that he didn't want his so-called 'family' to see. Thinking more about it now, however, he realised one flaw in his plan... underage magic. He and his friends couldn't do magic outside school until they were 17. He moaned quietly to himself. _Damn it... there goes the plan of learning that spell over the summer. Oh well... I could just look at the theory then and make notes on the spell Hermione is always telling us that the point of essay's is, to make sure that we memorize what we've read or been taught. Hmm... The Marauders were pranksters... I wonder..  
_

Harry continued looking at the secrecy spells section of the journal. Five pages further into the Journal he stopped and stared at the page. _Holy Merlin! I was right. They did practice during the summer holidays and this is how they did it._

**The Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery**

**The restricted section of the library has a collection of books on laws, in it we found a description of this law. A summary of the law at its most basic is that no wizard or witch who is not 'of age' is not permitted to use magic unless their life is in imminent danger.**

**The book also provided a reference to another book which explained the tracking method 'The Trace' that the ministry is rumored to use. It turns out that 'The Trace' is cast on each witch or wizards wand as they arrive at school the first time. The Trace will in fact detect all spikes of magic near the witch or wizard.**

**We spent months looking through the restricted section and eventually found an obscure book that has the counter charm. The only problem we could see is that is required two wands to cast it. One the wand that The Trace was to be removed from, the other to perform the counter charm.  
**

**To do this borrow your friends wand. (We MEAN borrow, as permission to use the wand is required for the spell to be cast effectively, although we are not sure why) Point the borrowed wand at the tip of your wand and cast the following spell. No wand movement is required.  
**

patet foci tracius

**If cast correctly a purple glow should leave the target wand. You should be aware that this should only be done where magic is permitted as this spell will still be detected.**

_That explains how Dobby's Hover Charm was mistaken as me casting. The charm just detects spikes in magic._

Harry nudged Ron in the side. "Ron!" he said "can I borrow your wand for a moment?"

Ron stared at Harry, muttering. "What could you need my wand for you've got a better one than I do!"

"I wanted to test something I have been thinking about." he replied.

Harry used his own wand to cast the spell on Ron's wand. The wand glowed briefly purple before the glow became a tiny ball and shot out of the wand and faded away. "Hmm..." he muttered.

"Hermione do you mind doing the same to my wand?" he asked the bushy-haired witch that was peering round the side of her book in curiosity.

"What are you doing? and why did you do it to Ron's wand first?" she asked suspiciously.

Harry sighed. _She never can just help she always asks questions. _Out loud he said "I'm trying to remove tracking spells off of my wand. I got a warning for house-elf doing magic in my Aunt's house. I do not want that to happen again. Also, Ron's wand is broken anyway so casting a spell on it to test it is not going to be a problem."

"Oh. That's actually a good idea. We cam do that to mine as well, then I can show my parents what I have learnt this year." Hermione said with a touch of excitement. "I don't know why the ministry doesnt allow muggle-born and muggle-raised witches and wizards to use magic in their own homes."

Harry and Ron shared a slight grin. It appeared they had finally managed to get Hermione to relax about rules a bit.

~FLASHBACK END~

Uncle Vernon pulled into the driveway of No.4 Privet Drive and stopped with an angry screech of his company car's brakes. He immediately opened his door and half-stood/half-rolled out of the car door which was only just big enough for him to fit through. He stormed away and walked into the house slamming and locking the door behind him.

Harry got out of the car clutching Hedwig's cage and pulled his trunk out of the boot. The moment the boot was shut the car was mysteriously locked, as though someone was watching him shut it. Harry just rolled his eyes and dragged his trunk round to the back garden and sat on it. By his Uncle's actions he assumed that he was supposed to wait outside until he was let in. Then again, his 'family' was probably hoping that he would take this opportunity to leave them for good. As much as Harry would have liked to do this he knew that he needed to stay there as he knew that his 'Aunt' and 'Uncle' were in fact his legal guardians. There was also the fact that he had not yet been invited to one of his friends houses so he really didn't have anywhere else to stay at the moment.

~~SSHP~~

By the time his 'family' let him in the house it was already getting dark.

"Get in here and leave your trunk under the stairs." 'Aunt' Petunia shrieked as she opened the door and craned her neck out. "Vernon will explain this summer's rules to you later."

"Yes Aunt Petunia" Harry replied dully. Knowing that it was better to reply like that or else risk his Aunt getting his Uncle to start the beatings early. He dropped his trunk into his old bedroom, noticing that the padlock was already hanging on the door ready to lock it in. He quietly moved up the stairs to the smallest bedroom, as if, thinking that if he didn't make it obvious that he was there to his Uncle, he would forget about him entirely.


End file.
